The Prankster and the Princess
by princessg101
Summary: Whoever heard of the princess ending up with the court jester anyway? Fred/Hermione


A Prankster and His Princess

**A/N: Who said romance was restricted to Valentine's Day? It's springtime so the immortal words of Friend Owl from Bambi, it is time to be twitter-pated. **

The problem with being a prankster and joker is that no one takes you seriously after a while, Fred mused over his butterbeer. He was seated at the picnic table in the Burrow's backyard where his entire family, plus the Lupins, and the Blacks had congregated for dinner. Fred smirked as he remembered how Sirius had shocked the world by falling in love and getting married to an old school friend Vera. She was one of the few females who could proudly claim to have held out against his infamous charm… well not anymore considering the son and the baby bump but points to her anyway. Points to Sirius too, no one could believe the playboy extraordinaire had finally decided to settle down. There was even talk about a bet on how long it would last but no one wanted to do that to him, nevertheless he stood in front of them all and loudly said "I do". You could almost hear his mould breaking and for that Fred was jealous beyond belief. If it weren't for his mould, he would be with the girl of dreams right now, maybe she'd have a ring too. Fred's gaze flicked over to the girl in question, from the beautiful mass of brown curls to those honey coloured eyes to those sweet pink lips and let's not forget the rest of her, she was perfect. That's right, Fred Weasley had fallen hard for Hermione Granger. Fred ruefully recalled the first time he had asked her out,

_It was beautiful day and Hermione was outside by herself, reading on the porch swing. Fred took a few deep breaths and went out to see her, "Hey Hermione," he called. _

"_Oh hi Fred," Hermione beamed at him, closing her book. _

"_Reading I see," the twin teased, "Really Granger I didn't know you liked books that much."_

"_New hobby of mine," she quipped. They laughed and Fred was struck for a second by how pretty she looked when she did that. _

"_You need to get out more Hermione, how about coming on a date with me?" Fred tried to hide the nervousness he felt. To his dismay Hermione simply laughed more. For the first time ever he was disappointed about making someone chuckle. _

"_Thanks for the offer," she rolled her eyes and went back into the house. _

"You're staring mate," Fred was jolted back to present and George looked at him sympathetically.

"What else can I do?" Fred asked miserably, "She'll never believe that I actually want to go out with her. Can't say I blame her either, how many times did we mock asking her for a date?"

"Too many," George admitted.

"Well now I'm screwed," Fred concluded.

"Oi Fred, George, over here," the twins spun to see that the men had congregated around the large oak tree and Ron was waving them over.

"Come on," George urged his brother to get up and with one more wistful glance at Hermione he left the table.

"What's up with you?" Charlie asked as they approached.

"Nothing," Fred said dismissively, leaning against the tree.

"You know," Remus said mildly, "this has got to be the first time I've seen you frown since the war ended."

"Yeah well…" he shrugged.

"Alright who is she?" Sirius cut through all pretenses.

"Who said anything about a girl?" Fred asked wondering if he was that obvious.

"Only someone of the fairer gender could level a man like this," the men circle bobbed their heads, it was pretty true.

"Alright fine, it's a girl but it doesn't matter anyway. I asked her out but she doesn't think I'm serious – don't mate," he added when the animagus opened his mouth. "I've spent my entire life trying to make people laugh, hell I made a career out of it, and the one time I want to be taken seriously…" he trailed off hopelessly.

"That's a right mess there," Harry grimaced. "Who's the girl though?"

"The Gryffindor princess herself," this was naturally met with a variety of spit takes except from George.

"Hermione?!" asked the group in unison.

"My ex?" Ron looked like he couldn't believe his ears.

"Yeah. Problem little brother?" Fred tried for a smirk but didn't quite make it.

"No," Ron shook his head, "I'm with Lavender. Just… wow Hermione. I suppose you could work together."

"So what's stopping you?" asked Bill.

"Like I said, she doesn't believe I mean it." Fred bumped his head lightly against the tree. "Whoever heard of the princess ending up with the court jester anyway?"

"Well how did you ask her the first time?" Sirius questioned.

"Nothing fancy. Just went outside, talked with her a bit, and then asked her."

"Lemme guess you made a joke of some sort?" Remus said wryly.

"Not really…well yeah kind of but what has that got to do with anything?"

"That right there is your whole problem," Sirius replied. "You want her to know this time you mean it, that's it different, so you have to be different too. Look, she's come to expect certain behaviour from you, so you have change your style a little to prove this isn't like all the other times. I should know, I had to prove myself to Vera didn't I?"

"What did you do?" inquired Harry.

"I wanted to her know she was special to me, that she wasn't just one of the girls that became a notch on my bedpost. So I planned an evening that included all of her favourite things, just to show that I remembered, that she stuck out to me. I did and bought everything right down to the stuff she mentioned in passing."

"How romantic," Charlie teased.

"I wouldn't joke about that," Remus warned. "You never know what information may come in handy someday. Like when Dora was pregnant, I can't tell how sorry I was that I forgot she preferred white chocolate."

"Or Fleur," Bill put in, "when she was sick with the flu, I forgot she liked unsalted crackers rather than salted. You try finding crackers during the night on a holiday weekend."

Harry added his own story, "One Valentine's day I had to work so I sent Ginny a huge box of cinnamon hearts because I knew from this one time in our make-up year she said she loved them."

"Hang on," Fred's head snapped up, "Wasn't that because Hermione gave some to her in your fifth year? She said they were her favourite because of the cinnamon."

"Ah he's getting it," Sirius cried joyfully. He slung his arm around the twin, "See that is something Hermione wouldn't expect you to know, it's something that proves she really means something to you because you were paying attention. What else do you know?"

"Well…" He actually knew quite a bit but didn't want to look pathetic. The others made encouraging gestures and Fred gave in, "she loves the colour purple, her favourite flowers are roses and snap dragons, favourite ice cream is mint chocolate chip, likes Italian and French food, if she drinks she prefers mead or butterbeer because they're milder, she hates spinach and cauliflower, home cooked food instead of restaurant, likes to swim but only in pools, not a good flyer but she does like being airborne as long as it's stationary, she has a soft spot for muggle children's films – what's it called?"

"Disney?" Harry supplied.

"That's it, her favourite muggle story is Beauty and the Beast, listens to lots of music but likes pop and R&B, and loves cinnamon but I already said that." He finished and looked around at the others who stared at him in awe.

Charlie whistled, "You must really like her."

"I do," Fred said earnestly.

"Then use all that," Sirius encouraged, "woo her. Make her feel special, treat her like a real princess. My advice is to go slow, don't bombard her, she's the cautious type if you overload her, she'll close off. Ease your way in."

Fred nodded thoughtfully, "Alright I'll do it."

The following Monday Hermione walked into her office at Ministry to find a bouquet of snap dragons with single perfect red rose in the centre. She gently laid her jacket on her chair and picked up the card.

_These are for you, my Belle, the snap dragons because they are unique and beautiful like you. The rose is charmed to last forever, it will never wither, there is no time limit, I'm willing to wait forever for you Hermione._

_-Beast_

A piece of the witch was nervous, who was this person? But then again only her friends knew what flowers she liked and the reference to Beauty and the Beast definitely narrowed down the list of possible people. She knew who she wanted it to be, Fred Weasley. It would be amazing to have it be him, she always really liked him but would he have known all this about her? She thought he only saw her as a friend. She plucked the rose and breathed in its sweet aroma, she would just have to wait and see. She tucked it into her ponytail just as there was a knock at her door and Sirius came in.

"Here Mione, Kingsley wanted to know if you could take care of these – what do we have here?" He snagged the card and read it then his eyes flickered from the snap dragons to the rose in hair. "Care to share love?"

"No," she said primly snatching the card, "I don't know who sent it."

"Well have fun, you deserve this," Sirius said genially.

"Thanks Sirius," Hermione smiled picking up some reports.

"No problem," Sirius winked at her and left the office. 'Good boy Fred,' he muttered to himself.

Tuesday Hermione arrived at her office to find a crystal bowl of cinnamon hearts and big cinnamon roll with frosting on her desk with another note.

_Sweet and spicy just like a girl I know. Have a good day love._

_-Beast _

Hermione bit her lip to stop from squealing in her office. She did however bounce a little in spot, whoever it was must know her really well. Again Fred came to mind but how? She remembered the day he asked her out by the porch swing, she sighed wistfully wishing he had been serious. 'What if he was?' a voice in her head asked. Hermione clasped the note to her heart, she truly hoped so. She was completely oblivious to Remus's head poking out by her door. He grinned and discretely left, making his way to Sirius's office some distance from Hermione's. He wrapped his knuckles on the door and Sirius looked up from his desk, "Well?"

"A bowl of cinnamon hearts, a cinnamon roll and another note but I couldn't see it," Remus sat down chuckling. "She seemed pleased though."

"Ah young love," Sirius beamed, "makes you want to do something for the wives huh?"

"You mean like the bunch of tulips that are on their way to Dora's cubicle as we speak," Remus deadpanned.

Sirius shook his head amusedly, "Or the box of chocolates being delivered to the house." The two men laughed, romance was definitely in the air.

Hermione couldn't help but smile from ear to ear on Wednesday when she saw the adorable purple plush kitten waiting for her.

_Just a little something to keep you company. At least this way, you'll have a piece of me with you until we meet. _

_-Beast_

Hermione cuddled the toy, she couldn't wait until they finally met. Her heart told her she would not be disappointed but she really wished it was Fred. If it wasn't, then she would still give the person a chance. They did go through all of this just for her and if she was honest with herself the realistic odds of it being Fred were slim. Maybe that's why she loved Beauty and the Beast. After all, where else have you heard of the prince choosing the bookworm? She kissed the kitten and set it carefully to face her. Remus and Sirius, now accompanied by Harry, Charlie, and Ron watched from a distance, exchanging gleeful looks knowing what was coming. Just two more days…

Hermione was disappointed on Thursday when she nothing in the morning but at lunch a basket was brought in with a card

_I hope you weren't too upset this morning, maybe this will make up for it. Mrs. Weasley's homemade lasagna and garlic bread, and fresh mint chocolate ice cream for dessert and a few bottles of butterbeer. I want you to know that I will always be there to take care of you. _

_-Beast_

_P.S. Don't bother asking her, she's been sworn to secrecy . _

Hermione pouted at the last line, well at least she knew for sure it had to be someone she knew. However an unfortunate outcome of the war was certain level of paranoia, luckily a quick charm revealed nothing to be wrong with the food and she dug in. The rich, deep flavour made her slump in bliss, a girl could get used to this. Having someone pamper her was nice, she felt cared for and…well…loved. Harry passed by the door and glanced up to see her enjoying the lunch. He smiled to himself, his best friend was about to find all the happiness she deserved.

Hermione eagerly rushed in on Friday to find an ornate silver mirror on top of a box with a message from her beast.

_Beast gave Belle a mirror so she could see him. Now it's your turn Hermione, at 7 o'clock tonight this mirror will take you to see me, the real me. The choice is yours, until then my sweetheart… _

Hermione opened the box to reveal a champagne cocktail dress and matching heels. She took a deep fortifying breath before nodding to herself. She would do it, no matter who was waiting for her at the other end of that mirror, she was going to take a chance. This may be her shot at real love and it didn't take being the smartest witch of her age to know that opportunities like this didn't come around often. She went to Sirius after lunch who was surprisingly obliging about covering for her so she could leave early. She smelt a rat and said as much to which she got the cheeky reply "Can't be love, we buried him years ago remember?" Hermione just rolled her eyes and went home to get ready. She fixed the rose in her hair again and put on some very light make-up, the dress fit her like a glove and the shoes were quite comfortable. It was ten minutes to seven and she started to pace the room with a death grip on the mirror. The minutes went by more slow than ever, grating her nerves. Finally the mirror glowed blue and she felt that familiar tug at her navel taking her to her beast.

She landed in room filled with floating candles, at end of it was a set of doubles doors opened to reveal a balcony with a breathtaking view of London at night. Entranced, she came out into the night air taking in the twinkling stars and the shimmering city lights, it was like the world had been laid out for her.

"Beautiful," she whispered.

"Yes it is," a quiet voice said from behind. She spun around to see Fred in a black suit with no neck tie and the top couple of button on his shirt undone. "Hello Hermione," he smiled as he came forward and took her hand in his leading her inside. For all his outward confidence Fred was nervous wreck, _please don't leave, please don't leave_ he chanted mentally. He flicked his wand and Brandy's Have You Ever seemed to pour from the walls at just the right volume. "Dance with me?" He felt gratified when she willingly stepped into his arms and they swayed to music.

Hermione couldn't believe this was happening. Her lip trembled and she looked up into those bright blue eyes, "Fred… you did all of this? For me?" She had to hear him say it, this was way too much like a dream.

"Yes I did," Fred murmured at the top of her forehead.

"Why?"

"I was serious when I asked you out a little while ago but you thought it was a joke. The others helped me realise that I had to show you that I meant it this time. More importantly I had to show you how much you mean to me, you are everything to me Hermione Granger."

"Oh Fred," a tear finally broke free. She didn't care how corny she sounded, never before had anyone done anything remotely like this for her. Fred thumbed away the tear, unable to resist he leaned in to kiss her. Both of them felt their hearts burst and they pulled back to stare at one another as if in a new light. They kissed again with renewed passion as the song hit its crescendo. Fred tightened his grip as did Hermione, never wanting to let go. That was the night Fred Weasley broke his mould and the prankster got his princess.


End file.
